Naomi Osaka yesterday responded to some courtside advice from her coach in the most emphatic way after dropping the first set in the Brisbane International quarter-finals, conceding only five points in the next set on her way to a 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over eighth seed Anastasija Sevastova.
The US Open champion was clearly under pressure in the first set, when she made 15 unforced errors and had fewer winners than Sevastova.
Whatever coach Sascha Bajin told Osaka during a quick, animated conference worked.
Photo: AFP
She finished with 11 aces, converted all four of her break-point chances in the second and third sets, and appeared far more confident.
Osaka said that the advice was merely a reality check.
“I mean, I was just trying to stay calm. Was trying to tell myself: ‘She’s one of the best players in the world. I just have to stay in there and hopefully I’ll get a chance,’” Osaka said.
The 21-year-old is to play either Lesia Tsurenko or Anett Kontaveit in the semi-finals and could rise to No. 3 in the rankings next week — which would be a high for a player from Japan.
“I feel like right now I’m really confident in myself, and I feel like the off-season training that I’ve been doing is really paying off,” she said. “I’m not sure if I would have had the same feeling six months ago. Six months ago I didn’t win the US Open.”
In the men’s tournament, Kei Nishikori showed that he was back to his best form as he downed Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals.
Nishikori proved too consistent for the Bulgarian in a high-quality match, securing crucial breaks at 5-5 in both sets.
Afterward, the 29-year-old said that his goal is to get back into the top five after seeing his ranking plummet to No. 39 in April last year due to persistent injuries.
The match was a replay of the 2017 final, won by Dimitrov in three sets, but Nishikori turned the tables this year by returning the Bulgarian’s serve superbly, putting Dimitrov under pressure at key moments and showing fight to come back from 1-4 down in the second set.
He is now to play Frenchman Jeremy Chardy for a place in Sunday’s final and would go into the match as a firm favorite following Chardy’s three-set struggle over qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama.
Chardy was not as sharp as he was during his win over Nick Kyrgios on Wednesday and was forced to battle for over two hours before beating Uchiyama 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took advantage of Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal with a straight-sets win over Japanese lucky loser Taro Daniel.
Tsonga saw off the Japanese challenge to win 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 and record his first back-to-back victories since February last year.
“It was, of course, one of my goals to be able to play two matches in a row,” he said. “Now the new goal is going to be to win three matches in a row and be able to stay healthy.”
He is to play rising Australian star Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals.
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